wire

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (1)  · 
“
Doctors put a thin wire (a catheter) into my heart; the tip of the wire was then heated to destroy the tiny areas in my heart muscle where the electric signals had gone wrong.

View all »
Definitions (108)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (27)

  1. noun A usually pliable metallic strand or rod made in many lengths and diameters, sometimes clad and often electrically insulated, used chiefly for structural support or to conduct electricity.
  2. noun A group of wire strands bundled or twisted together as a functional unit; cable.
  3. noun Something resembling a wire, as in slenderness or stiffness.
24 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (69)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (9)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • One of the men brought a coil of wire, and this was employed in binding the bronze man, although there was no likelihood of his breaking the handcuffs When the wire was all used, he was little more than an elongated bundle of gleaming metal. —  024 - Red Snow
  • But he made it a point never to sample his own wares; the wire was his drug of choice Outside Vlad's door, several darkly-clad figures set about picking the three locks. —  SomethingWickedSFandHorrorMagazine#6
  • Doctors put a thin wire (a catheter) into my heart; the tip of the wire was then heated to destroy the tiny areas in my heart muscle where the electric signals had gone wrong. —  Home | Mail Online
  • At about sixty feet up the wire was again paid out and the balloon made a dash for the trees again. —  In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country
  • On permanent lines, the extreme ends of the wire are attached to properly anchored picket posts. —  Scientific American Supplement, No. 1157, March 5, 1898
More examples »
 

Tags

wire hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 131 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English wīr; see wei- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English wir, wyr, from Anglo-Saxon wīr, a wire, a spiral ornament of wire, = Middle Low German wire, Low German wir, wire; cf. Old High German wiara, Middle High German wiere, fine-drawn gold, gold ornament, = Icelandic vīrr, wire (cf. Swedish vire, wind, twist); cf. Lithuanian wela, iron wire, Latin viriæ, armlets (see virole, ferrule).
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/waɪr/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a day.

Recently looked up

foolscap · ped · curl · drape · browser

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

ultimatum · pew · deadpool · sad panda · nom nom nom